Niveditaa Chakrapani, Jadetimes Staff
N. Chakrapani is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitic.
The BRICS-nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are significantly changing the globalization landscape. This was a loose acronym initially developed to describe the world's largest emerging markets, but over the years, BRICS has become a strong political and economic bloc that dares to challenge the dominance of Western institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. As the globe's economic landscape continues to shift ever more toward multipolarity, the BRICS countries are increasingly becoming a balance, a counterpoint to the still dominant U.S. and its allies.
BRICS, in the last couple of years, has not only promoted a stronger voice on the world stage but has come to redefine and shape the frameworks of global governance, trade, and development that mirror their interests. The increasing unity of these countries is reverberating so deeply within the contexts of geopolitics and economic balances that questions arise as to whether the BRICS coalition might redefine the global order and reduce U.S. economic hegemony.
BRICS as Economic Superpowers
The total of BRICS nations accounted for more than 40 percent of the population in the world and contributed to about a quarter of global GDP. This gives it, as a bloc, a strong position in terms of international trade, investment, and diplomacy. Its members have strengths that complement one another:
China: is the second-largest economy in the world and still the backbone of BRICS, due to its enormous manufacturing base and investment in global infrastructure through initiatives like the Belt and Road.
India: a new power emerging as a technological powerhouse, due to rapid growth in the economy, huge young population, positioning it well in future trends in workforce around the world.
Russia: remains a giant in terms of energy supply to both Europe and Asia and boasts enormous reserves of oil and natural gas, despite its onerous sanctions.
Brazil: is the largest economy in South America, a big agricultural products exporter, with soybeans and coffee, and rich in natural resources.
South Africa: , though relatively small in economic terms, acts as a gateway to the African continent with its riches of minerals and good geography.
Challenging U.S. Dollar Dominance
One of the most fundamental ways through which BRICS challenges U.S. hegemony is by seeking to lower their usage of the U.S. dollar. For generations, the dollar has been the world's reserve currency used to enable international trade and give the U.S. significant influence in financial systems worldwide, but this is no longer the case today. BRICS countries have heavily espoused alternative currencies as well as alternative payment systems toward diminishing their uses of the dollar.
Often floated in discussions is the prospect of a BRICS currency, aimed at simplifying intra-block trade without needing to be settled in dollars. Still in its infancy, the possibility of alternative currency or even more local currencies being used instead in trade agreements may go a long way in diminishing the U.S.'s influence over geopolitical happenings through its currency.
China and Russia have already started bilateral trade in national currencies, while others are following this course. Promoting de-dollarization, BRICS will build a more multipolar financial system that caters to new global power dynamics.
BRICS' Expansion: New Members and Increased Influence
Another reason of major significance for BRICS is its prospect of expansion. Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are already eager to join the bloc. Expansion for BRICS would not only spread more economic influence but also add some political might: a wider coalition against Western-led institutions.
The possibility of inviting new members was one of the things the group discussed during the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August 2023; this already indicated a step towards greater inclusivity and cohesiveness with other emerging markets. Oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and strategic players like Turkey will certainly enhance the global outreach of BRICS, which will be a challenge for Western-led alliances, including G7.
Expansion also speaks to BRICS' vision of moving beyond its status as an economic grouping—today, it is transforming into a geopolitical player. If BRICS could add one or two more countries to the group, then it would not only have enough heft but even shape new global institutions and usher in a new era of international cooperation among developing nations.
The New Development Bank: A Response to the IMF and World Bank
One of the most concrete expressions of BRICS's aspiration to redefine the global financial landscape is the **New Development Bank (NDB). Founded in 2014, this bank is designed as a complement to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Its headquarters are in Shanghai. The NDB funds infrastructure and development projects in BRICS countries as well as other rising nations.
The capital structure is shared equally between the founding members of the NDB which really makes it different from both the IMF and World Bank where voting power is proportionate to the U.S. and its allies. The loans issued by the NDB were also not treated to the same extent in terms of conditions set forth on borrowers by Western institutions, making the NDB a more flexible or less politically driven source of development financing.
In addition to the NDB, BRICS members have also established the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA)-a financial mechanism aimed at providing short-term liquidity support to countries that are facing balance-of-payment crises. It is not very different from the IMF but perhaps has fewer political strings attached, thereby making it an alternative safety net for the emergent economies.
Institutions are the heart of the larger BRICS strategy, to be able to give developing countries in the Global South some financial clout and independence free from the West's political considerations and the concomitant pressures for economic liberalization and austerity.
Geopolitical Implications: New Cold War?
The power of Cold War times was already being put into perspective with the mighty times, when the superpowers- the U.S. and the Soviet Union-seemed to be battling for world dominance. Although BRICS does not represent any militarial type of alliance, the discontent common with the U.S. administered global order seems to be shared by its members. The most vocal opposition to the U.S. sanctions and military interventions around the globe are China and Russia, which would like to see a world with more multipolar power distribution through BRICS.
Recent geopolitical turns, for example, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have emphasized the difference between BRICS and the West even further. With the US and Europe imposing sanctions on Russia, other BRICS members, China and India, continued to engage Moscow economically forcing the inefficacy of western sanctions.
The BRICS bloc has been equally consistent in demands for reform of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, where permanent membership still is predominantly held by the powers who sat at the victor's table following the World War.
India and Brazil have long campaigned for permanent seats on the council, and the collective influence of BRICS may bring enough pressure to force a more representative form of global governance.
Challenges Ahead
However, BRICS also faces some internal challenges toward becoming a real force. The political and economic systems of its member countries differ considerably: the authoritarian model of China sounds very different from the democratic system in India, and Russia's economic problems completely differ from development aims in Brazil and South Africa. Such divergences would create tension and slow the pace of common initiatives.
Being the second-largest economy in the world, it is not easy to wipe out China's and India's growth on the economic front. Thus, the slowdown of the Brazilian economy, along with South Africa and political isolation in the international arena, will restrict the overall power of the bloc. However, BRICS is a growing force, along with the rise of China and India on the economic front.
A Changing Global Order?
BRICS is the reflection of a new dynamic in the world economy: Emerging markets are demanding a seat at the same table that hitherto was occupied by the West. In this context, all factors-transparency, comprehension, and multipolarity initiatives and its proliferation-have found the BRICS family becoming a powerful force in shaping the contours of global governance and economic systems in the future.
With the rise of BRICS countries, this could mark the end to the gradual loss of the United States' economic supremacy, migrating toward a more diversified and decentralized world order. It is too early to say if BRICS finally holds enough firepower to outright supplant the system dominating the present-day world, but the burgeoning influence portends the end for a one-pole world.
